FIM Supersport World Championship Assen, Netherlands April 21, 2012 Final Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Sam LOWES, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.900 2. Broc PARKES, Australia (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.939 3. Jules CLUZEL, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.589 4. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.548 5. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.730 6. Imre TOTH, Hungary (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.040 7. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:40.090 8. Vladimir LEONOV, Russia (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.289 9. Massimo ROCCOLI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:40.326 10. Mathew SCHOLTZ, South Africa (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.390 24. Patrick P.J. JACOBSEN, USA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:41.675 25. Josh DAY, USA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:41.997 More, from a press release issued by Bogdanka PTR Honda: BOGDANKA PTR HONDA’s Sam Lowes secured his second pole position of the season and aims for a podium finish in tomorrow’s third race of the World Supersport Championship after a rainy day at Assen in the Netherlands today. His rookie teammate, Mathew Scholtz, had his first taste of his Bogdanka PTR Honda on a wet track today and starting from tenth on the grid, he too targets a strong result and a eyes a top ten finish. Bogdanka Honda PTR’s PJ Jacobsen, standing in for the injured Pawel Szkopek, looks to improve on his 24th position on the grid after being consistently amongst the top riders in the wet morning practice. Tomorrow’s race starts at 13:30 CET. Sam Lowes: “The conditions were a bit on and off today. This morning we were fast in the wet. In the afternoon the track wasn’t as good as yesterday but we had a good pace. I used the hard tyre a lot in the afternoon and was consistently in the 1:39’s, so if we can keep that pace in the race, we’ll be fine. At the end of the qualifying session the track was almost completely dry but still a bit slippery in places yet we still got close to our yesterday’s time. I’m feeling good for the race and confident both in the dry and in the wet so let’s wait and see what the conditions will be like tomorrow.” Mathew Scholtz: “The free practice this morning was the first time I got to ride my Bogdanka PTR Honda in the rain, and really enjoyed it. The bike handled really well. We did some good work and we are ready if the race will be wet. In the qualifying session, we improved our dry setup and I was consistently doing similar lap times as yesterday. I’m tenth on the grid and I’m very happy. I’d like to get anywhere above that in the race tomorrow and don’t really mind if it’s wet or dry as it’s the same for everyone.” PJ Jacobsen: “This morning it was wet and we were doing pretty good. I think I was fourth for most of the session and only dropped down to thirteenth when it started to get dry in the end. I’d appreciate it if the race tomorrow would be wet and think we could do very well in these conditions. In the dry the bike was backing it in a bit, but if we can improve a little bit and run in the 41’s, which is realistic, maybe we could get close to the top ten, which would be a great result.” Simon Buckmaster, Bogdanka PTR Honda Team Manager: “Sam had an off in the rain but there was no harm done to him and minimal damage to the bike. He came in and changed set up and within three laps set the second fastest wet time. He is in a great position whether wet or dry for the race. Mathew is 10th and that is a good qualifying position for him. Although he didn’t do a faster lap time today he was consistently faster and we expect him to score his best race result tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by PTR Honda: PTR HONDA’S Jules Cluzel improved his lap time to stay third on the grid for tomorrow’s third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland – and closed the gap on the two riders in front. It his third front row start out of three attempts – an impressive hat trick for the class debutant. Ronan Quarmby on his PTR Honda had a markedly better day and has jumped to 15th on the grid with his potential clear as he posted the 10th quickest ideal time. Riders PTR Honda’s Martin Jessopp did not get the big step improvement he wanted – partly foiled by a wet morning session – but still improved his times but dropped to 23rd. Bogdanka PTR Honda’s Sam Lowes is on pole position for the race that starts at 1330CET tomorrow, April 22nd. Jules: “Today has been better and we have improved lap time slightly and my feel for the bike is close to what I want. It is nice to improve and get closer to the two riders in front, I think it will be close over race distance. I like Assen and it is most important for me to get a good finish at this race – and if I can challenge for the podium I will.” Ronan: “It went better for me today and my ideal time is better again, so it has been a big improvement for me. Let’s see how the rest of the weekend goes, I am just looking forward to having a good time in the race.” Martin: “I am losing a lot of time in the final sector – half a second. It is a problem area for me and by the time I got to running decent laps my tyre was gone. I am grabbing too much brake and scrubbing off too much speed in what is a really fast fifth gear corner. It is a Superbike approach and it is hard to get my head round it but the data shows I am losing time. I’ve got a lot of work to do in the first laps tomorrow but I hope to get dragged along and improve – the rest of the lap I am much better.” Simon Buckmaster, PTR Honda Team Manager: “Jules has had a good day. He was quick in the rain and we can still make improvements in the dry; either way he has the pace to challenge for the podium. Ronan had a difficult day yesterday and couldn’t get his rhythm but has improved to 15th and is looking for a good top 10 finish. Martin improved his times and is consistent. 23rd is not where he wants to be but he is always good in the race and has a chance for a points finish.” More, from a press release issued by Power by Suriano Team: In Assen, the racings weekends are always rainy. Even this year the riders had to deal with the wet track that didn’t allow to complete a proper working-schedule. Vittorio Iannuzzo and Alex Baldolini had only today’s qualifying to develop their feelings with the new suspensions. The two riders would’ve need a dry session so to have more time to fulfill this job. They managed to find the right way eventually. However, Alex Baldolini slipped during the final for a competitor engine’s fail that provoked oil leak. The two Italian riders are going to kick off the race respectively from the fourth and fifth row aiming for a race where once again they can be protagonist. Vittorio Iannuzzo Triumph Daytona 675 #31 – “ Unfortunately, we had quite a hard time due to the weather that prevented all of us to properly work on suspensions and on the feelings with the bike. But the team did a great job today and I managed to slightly improve myself.I even could have done better but I did a mistake while I was striking the best timing. I hope for a dry race so to have chances for a take over.” Alex Baldolini Triumph Daytona 675 #25 – “This slip wasn’t really needed. While I was boostin up another rider broke the engine and my rear wheel ended on the oil leak and throw me on the ground. Unfortunately my hand remained under the bike and the glove was so worned out that caused a deep scape to the tendon. The Clinica mobile is taking care of me and I asked them to be put on condition to race tomorrow. I’ll do my best but I cannot guarantee that 100%.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Sofuoglu On The Front Row For Assen Race WSS, Assen, Netherlands, 21 April 2012 Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini runner Kenan Sofuoglu will begin the 21-lap WSS race at Assen in fourth position after finding improvements in his machine set-up that earned him a front row start. Sofuoglu, the race winner in Australia, was the top Kawasaki qualifier after a very disturbed series of practice sessions, each in its own way affected by ever-changing weather conditions. Most top riders could not improve their best lap times in this afternoon’s final qualifying session but Sofuoglu was one who did manage this feat. Now showing a great improvement in physical fitness after suffering a painful injury to his left knee in testing before the previous Imola round, he feels fit and strong and ready to race at one of his favourite circuits, Assen. Intermoto Step Kawasaki rider Fabien Foret took his Ninja ZX-6R to fifth place at Assen but feels there is more to come. Like his fellow riders in WSS he is unsure about the kind of weather conditions he will find on raceday but if the track is dry he will use morning warm-up to prove a new set-up on his racebike, based on his experiences over two changeable days of practice at Assen. Kenan’s team-mate, Sheridan Morais, was hampered by an unexpected problem at a key time, but still earned a start on the second row – a factor that may be vital at a circuit it is often difficult to overtake on. He was seventh from the 32 riders who set out to qualify for the third round of the year. Romain Lasusse, Foret’s team-mate, qualified 18th, Joshua Day (Team GOELEVEN Kawasaki)was 25th. Kenan Sofuoglu: “My knee is quite OK and we do not have a problem like Imola. I do not need any injections, just some small painkillers, which are enough. I have not spent almost all weekend in the Clinica Mobile like I did in Imola! My concentration is much better and I could do many laps without any mistakes. Our work on the bike means we should have a good set-up. We improved a little bit today but the track conditions were worse than yesterday. Every track is new for me this year because it is my first year riding the Ninja ZX-6R, so I have to find a new set-up and balance at each track. I think we will really be ready for tomorrow and can fight to win the race. I hope we have good weather and there could be four or five riders fighting for the win.” Sheridan Morais: “With the tricky conditions today we wanted to get some times in early on and the times really came quite easily. It was still a bit damp so the laps were not too fast, but on old tyres I eventually equalled my best times from yesterday. Then we came in and looked to put in a real fast lap on a new tyre. Even though I was riding at my absolute limit I was 0.2 seconds slower on the new tyre. I realised there was a problem, came in and put on one of our used tyres, then managed to improve by 0.2 seconds. I am on the second row and I would not want to be any lower than that. I am looking forward to the race now because we did a few good laps on a used tyre, so our pace should be good.” Fabien Foret: “We had a lot of work to do and the conditions were changeable so the direction we took for this afternoon was maybe not the best and we could not improve the lap time. We have some information for tomorrow to make it better in warm-up. I hope we can find the right things on the bike set up, but of course the track conditions could be different tomorrow anyway.”